SITE REVIEW: Skylabz

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Hi everyone.

This site went up on the 22nd. Kinda brand new out of the box with a new domain and all the package. Would like some comments on it since I have experimented with many new ideas and brought them to life all in this project. Comments welcomed.

http://www.skylabz.com

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

I'm going to step out of the box here, too. That may be one of the best Flash sites I've come accross, UNFLUX's included. I had no clue what to expect when I first dove in, but that rocks! Nothing at all negative to say about it. OK more specifically, I was a bit disapointed at first with all the mono color, but then when that stonehenge graphic came up and I turned off the audio and it just faded out..that's what captured me. I'm bettin' UNFLUX and lostinbeta are going to enjoy this one.

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Thanks alot man, Im glad you liked it. The mono color thing is done on purpose to show the extreme contrast once the main colored images show up. I think it gives it a unique effect since you kinda starve everyone for color and then give them rich colored images in contrast to the background. :wink:

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Understood.. That's the thought I got once I went in deeper. My designer curiosity got the best of me...The only thought I have is what does the rest of the "generic" populace think? Will they go that far with it?

perltea

Newbie

Posts: 5

3+ Months Ago

Hi,
i always enjoy looking at flash developed websites. I feel you have a great imagination and that you will go far with your developements. Im sure the populance will enjoy the site and will be waiting for more of your work. Great job !

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Thanks for your compliments. I belive flash is just the beginning of things to come. Although it did not get enough recognition at first, I think Flash and similar technologies will eventually change the face of the web. I can still enjoy a clean html website, but a dynamic experience is always more interesting than a static one. Once, bandwith's increase to a point where broadcast quality video can be streamed on the web I think the major changes will start. until then, flash is the only game in town. :wink:

mustardplaster

Beginner

Posts: 40

Loc: Sydney

3+ Months Ago

GOOD =

Looks great.

Great design

Easy to navigate.

For waht it is I have not seen better.

Different

BAD=

Slow to load

Repeat buisness or hits will be small as people would rather get striaght to the point.

It is not my site

All in all I think the idea is great and well done however it is 2 yeas ahead of its time... When technology catches up - watch out!

intrepid design

Student

Posts: 91

Loc: Chicago

3+ Months Ago

Im blown away. this is very nice indeed. very clean and easy to get around. if i were to have only one suggestion. im not feelin the "border" around the whole thing.

w e r k

Newbie

Posts: 12

Loc: Houston, TX

3+ Months Ago

I too have to agree with all the good comments posted up on here already. I think the motion is extremely nice as well as the images with contrast/color etc.

on the other hand, im going to have to agree to what mustard posted. it is a little bit slow to load. the first time u had 100% of my attention, but on going back to the site again and again, i wish i could navigate thru just a little bit faster to get to what i am looking for. that is however, a very small complaint.

very nice work

Nucleo

SausagePorkPie

Posts: 2297

Loc: UK - England

3+ Months Ago

i agree with the border, like with the images that appear on the pages, the site just kinda ends, thats all, no border around...

sorry, but thats all i can pick at lol, the site is very very cool..

too hard to pick any actual faults lol

Chikaboo

Newbie

Posts: 6

Loc: Copenhagen, Denmark

3+ Months Ago

Hi,

It looks nice to me - even it takes long time to load, but I have a slow connection.

But I mis some information on the opening page -what is this about? And I mis a button to switch off the sound.

Kind Regards
Chikaboo.com

-LynX-

Beginner

Posts: 62

Loc: Liverpool , UK

3+ Months Ago

erm.... what can i say?

the site is totally cool, the design layout EVERYTHING is superb i cant put a negitive comment to the site, i love the index page.. the flash totally rocks like ATNO/TW said its 1 of the best flash movies ive seen, great job

paulk

Beginner

Posts: 59

Loc: Boston

3+ Months Ago

That flash looks good, nothing bad to say about it. Only thing i would do is as add a site map for the search engines below on the page for the SE spiders

torbjorn

Novice

Posts: 23

3+ Months Ago

I think it would be good to have an image load inside your frameset for anyone without Flash. Your splash page is clean and works fine without Flash, but the fact that you need Flash to continue doesn't really stand out. People without Flash might click "Enter" and get an empty page. The empty page should at least hold a link to get Flash Player.
Other than that I think you should enter your site into all the Flash award sites you can find.
t

Lieven

Beginner

Posts: 57

Loc: Belgium

3+ Months Ago

From a flash/designer perspective, this site is really nice.
From a usability perspective, I think there are too many gadgets implemented (I don't like to wait a few seconds to have the buttons showing up (although it's a nice animation). In face, without any loading issues and skipping the intro as fast as possible, it still takes 30 seconds before your page is loaded, which I think is a little too long, even if these 30 seconds are filled with nice animations.

But since you're a designer, it's a nice showcase and thus, acceptable!

digitalMedia

a.k.a. dM

Posts: 5146

Loc: SC-USA

3+ Months Ago

The site is damned impressive. Maybe not the original Gabocorp, or 2Advanced impressive, but upper crust to be sure. The only possible criticism I have of the site is the intro is a bit tedious. I know you provided the obligatory skip button, but still, it could stand to have a frame yanked here or there.

Now let's talk about you. What are you planning to do with yourself? From the site it seems like your planning to do the free agent thing. I'd hate to see you go down that route. While your skills look to be innate, I think you could still benefit from the experience of working with a interactive/new media firm. Although, you'll probably threaten the crap out of the typical black turtle-neck wearing art director. hahahaha.

I also see that you tend to refer to yourself as a graphic designer, or atleast your work as graphic design-centric. I would suggest you not limit yourself like that. Titles are still quite nebulous in this industry but a "graphic designer" has a very specific meaning and it's waaaaaay tooooooo limited to describe what you're capable of doing. Find a title you like that doesn't limit you.

If you ever move to South Carolina (and why the hell would you?) give me a call. I'd hire you in a hearbeat.

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Thanks to you all for visiting the site and leaving comments. I'm glad to hear so many positive comments about my work. As with everything their is always room for improvments and I do try to critisize my own work alot. This is the first site I put together to show case some work. I realy wanted it to be different and off the wall. I tried to make it look and feel different without sacrificing usability and design integrity. However it gets to a point where you have to compromise one for another and try to keep a balance between the two. I do agree that some users might find the introduction a bit time consuming and the addition of an html based site would be a plus. However, the focus here was to try to push flash to the limits and create a new challenge for myself. I have learned alot about what can be done and what cant be done so far, through out the 2 months of production time on this site. I already have plans for a second version to this which would challenge the first one in a sense and finish up on the things I didnt get to do on this one. I will take into consideration all the small glitches and shortcomings of this one and try to improve everything in a whole sense. I have a feeling that it will be a good while before I get the second one up and runnin. Thanks again for taking the time and responding to this post.

the_real_tisse

Graduate

Posts: 116

Loc: Belgium

3+ Months Ago

Hi hessman

Very impressive work!!

Nice preloaders, transitions, images and the info is to the point.

If there is one thing I would change is the frame rate, I would speed everything up a bit.

The crop circle is pure genius!

Excellent job

kind regards
Tisse

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Thanks Tisse. The frame rates on this is already set high. A strange thing about flash is, that the same animation with same frame rates tends to run slower or faster on different systems depending on the speed of the processor. Most of the main interactive elements are set to run as fast as possible. if you check it on some of the newer 2 Ghz systems it's almost too fast! On a pentium II processor it's bairable although it might drop a few frames. Everything else falls somewhere in between. Now, as far as the background changes and imagery it was intentionaly set to happen slowly to give it an ambient effect. Like the sky color changes and etc... I just thought it would be more of a surprise that way:) Anyway, thanks for taking the time to look it up and I hope this explaination makes sense.

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

Thanks for your reply digital media. It's always nice to get compliments from people who are in the business. Or familiar with it in one way or another. In simple words I'm a digital media junkie. Arent we all! lol. I went to school for graphic design in Florida and that's the reason I have stuck wih the whole graphic design title. I do agree with you that it is a very specific title in a sense. Web design and development is realy more appropriate for this line of work but that becomes too specific as well. I guess it can be summed as multimedia or something similar to that. I have been moving arround a bit within the last couple of years. I live in Vancouver B.C. right now and I have been here for about a month. I used to work as a web designer for the mayo clinic branch in Jacksonville Florida but I decided it wasnt the right place for me. I have left my options open as far as getting a position with an agnecy and I do agree that it adds valuable experience to my resume. The thing about agencies is that you have to find the right one to work with. I would like to find smaller firms that have specific clients. I think they offer more flexibility and give you a better chance at expressing yourself. In any sense, I'm leaving my options open at the moment and contract work is always a plus. As I mentioned earlier, I like to travel. So I might actualy take you on the offer if I end up in South Carolina. :) I sure do appreciate the offer. What is the name of the firm your envolved with by the way? I'm assuming that is your line of work. Thanks again.

the_real_tisse

Graduate

Posts: 116

Loc: Belgium

3+ Months Ago

hessman wrote:

Now, as far as the background changes and imagery it was intentionaly set to happen slowly to give it an ambient effect.

Very true!!

It is just that the opening sequence and the changing of the content I was referring to. Looked at it with a new comp now (gig cpu) and you are correct, perfect then. I guess, once again, it's all about compromises.

digitalMedia

a.k.a. dM

Posts: 5146

Loc: SC-USA

3+ Months Ago

hessman wrote:

The thing about agencies is that you have to find the right one to work with. I would like to find smaller firms that have specific clients. I think they offer more flexibility and give you a better chance at expressing yourself.

...

What is the name of the firm your envolved with by the way? I'm assuming that is your line of work. Thanks again.

I think for you, one of the benefits of working in an established agency or firm would be the synergy you'd develop with other creative types, and the personal learning that goes with that. An agency, as you pointed out, is a bit of a trade off. While your creative scope might be limited by an art director's wishes and financial realities, you'd also be spared from sales, project management, billing and all the other support stuff we all sometimes take for granted, thereby enabling you to focus on just your work. You're absolutely right, though, you'll never really get a creative fix doing corporate work.

As for me hiring you, I really would. However I doubt I could provide you with the environment, or the type work you'd be looking for.

The firm that I'm employed by, technically, is a software development/IT services group called HunterStone, where my title is Media Director. More importantly, however, I work within a network of friends that reaches all over the US. So even though I'm employed by a small software firm, in a small state, in a tiny town, I do get around. Here's a sample of some of my flash work. We also have an ancillary creative group called ViralMedia, but we haven't used that entity for a long while. Since 9/11, I think.

The problem with my work environment, however, is the day to day disparatey in my projects. One day I'm doing 3D, one day I'm doing websites in HTML/CSS, the next day I'm writing website analysis, then print work, then Flash stuff, then developing products from the gournd up, then "here's a new technology, see what you can do with it..." and so on. Also, when I got into the industry, I got a reputation for being very fast and effective and able to insert myself in almost any situation at any level. That has served me well, but has been a bit of an albotros at the same time, as I never really got to develop one skill. I'm telling you all of this in the hopes that my experiences could be of value to your career planning.

**There is a precept in evolution, though, that specialists die, and adapters survive. hehehehe

Anyway, these thoughts are pbly coming across as a bit of a rant, so I'll just leave it there.

SycomCOmp

Graduate

Posts: 171

Loc: USA

3+ Months Ago

Great site! ( bravo ) BIG fan of flash sites, Anyways the site looks and feels professional.. Maybe some work on the menu (it hurts my neck to turn it side ways ) I like the effect with the alpha of the skys clouds.... If I could make a suggestion, make those clouds glide across the sky (in the pictures) It would look cool... I did notice the effect in the "formations" section with the crop sketching of your logo in the field.... Excellent effect...

all is good in the world of SkyLabz...

but if you got more up your sleaves "I"LL BE BACK"

Later
SycomCOmp

kreative

Newbie

Posts: 13

Loc: canada

3+ Months Ago

theres nothing to say really.... umm good job i guess i cant come up with any suggestions

hessman

Novice

Posts: 16

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

You make some good point digitalmedia. I understand your point about evolving and adapting to the needs. I try to be as flexible as I can with my work. The only problem is, when you spread yourself out like that you dont get enough time to perfect your talents all the way. Unless your superman:). It's like doing graphics and programming together and trying to make everything flawless. It's hard and challenging. I like your flash stuff. It's very clean, smooth and to the point. My problem is I always have to try hard to simplify. I tend to complicate and overenhance things alot which is not always neccesary. Anyway, that's life. We all have dreams and ambitions, and we reflect it in our work. Good or bad:)

Involved

Student

Posts: 89

Loc: New York City\Metro Area

3+ Months Ago

I certainly agree that the graphics are excellent and exciting! You can design a site for me anytime (but I couldn't afford you)!

That said, even with a cable connection, it takes much too long to load. The second time around I spotted the "Skip" button and used it. It bypassed the terrific but lengthy opening, but then still took too long to get to the good (color) stuff.

You really want to draw people in, and unless they know from someone else that your site is worth seeing but requires patience, they may leave early. (You may want to make the "Skip" button a bit more noticeable, too.)